The Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire, 1917–1947 (Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society, Series Number 2) - Hardcover

Copland, Ian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521571790 ISBN 13: 9780521571791

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Ian Copland's fascinating study of the role played by the Indian princes in the devolution of British colonial power rehabilitates the maharajahs and nawabs of South Asia as subjects for serious historical debate. The author goes on to chart their political demise under the successor congress government in New Delhi, and asks how and why it happened so quickly. The book will add a new dimension to the political history of later colonial India, and will also impact upon the wider history of the twentieth-century British Empire.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Ian Copland's comprehensive and meticulously researched study of the role played by the Indian princes, the maharajas and nawabs of South Asia, in the devolution of British colonial power is long overdue. By rehabilitating the princes as subjects of serious historical study, the author demonstrates that, far from being puppets under the control of the British, they were in fact significant actors on the Indian political stage in the inter-war period. He goes on to explain how and why an order so deep-rooted, and outwardly so strong, collapsed so quickly under the successor Congress government in New Delhi. The book will add a new dimension to the political history of late colonial India, and will also impact upon the wider history of the twentieth-century British empire.

Review:

"...a fascinating and fluently written study which successfully challenges future accounts of Indian independence to look far more carefully at the curious triangular relationship between the British, the princes, and the provinces of British India." The International History Review

"The demise of Indian royalty and their territories is the subject of this careful stufy by Iam Copland. Copland's research has been meticulous in the relevant official archival resources in India and Britain and the private manuscripts and published papers of the major participants." Richard J. Grace, The Historian

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0521571790
• ISBN 13: 9780521571791
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 318